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Christmas market and definitely teething

On the weekend we went to our local vintage and makers market. A friend was exhibiting her photography/holiday cards there this year, and we left Avery with her while we toured the market. This was a BIG deal for me, and I didn’t pay much attention to the vendors as I tried to rush us around the loop and back to our friend with our baby. It was no biggie for Avery. She just chilled and helped sell cards. We bought her some cute pants and a bib made by a local mom who was breastfeeding her baby while she sold us her product (rock on, super-mom), and we bought some eczema cream, because we are trying literally everything. The pants in this tummy time pic are from the market.

Also this weekend we bottled some beer that we made two weekends ago, and I did some dairy-free baking. Praise coconut oil.

Avery is definitely teething. Here’s how I know:

Nursing strike

Soothed by frozen teethers

Restless nights

Tugs on her ears when upset

Drool has increased exponentially

She has started a nursing strike during the day, and only nurses well when she’s half asleep. She’ll throw her head back and cry, then try again, and get upset again. I’ve found that offering her frozen teethers as an intermission during nursing sessions really helps. What I’ve read about nursing and teething is that the sucking draws blood to the gums which exacerbates the soreness. Chewing on the cold teethers (or my finger) applies counter-pressure which soothes the pain.

She also had some really shitty nights of tossing and turning this past week. I was wondering if it was the 4 month sleep regression already, but it only lasted a few days. Now I’m thinking it’s from teething discomfort. When I bed-share some nights she sleeps much better because every time she wakes up whimpering she cuddles into me and falls asleep again from the comfort of my smell (I speculate).

The drool is intense. We never before had to deal with frequent costume changes or bib use because she wasn’t a spit-up-prone or barfy baby. The drooling started about a month ago and I thought it was a lot, but I realize now that teething drool is a whole new experience. It now comes out in globs, her chin is constantly wet, and we now have to keep her in bibs because her shirts were getting soaked through in a matter of minutes.

Anyway, she’s actually in really great spirits for a teething baby, but that might change when the tooth is closer to cutting through. I’m actually really excited for her first tooth. I don’t want her to grow up, but I’m so excited to see her developing into each new stage. She is really into practicing rolling and sitting. The day she sat up straight on her own (from a reclined position), she wanted to practice all night long. She gets such a kick out of learning. This age is the best.

3 thoughts on “Christmas market and definitely teething”

It’s messy as heck, but when Charlotte started teething, she LOVED chewing on some frozen breast milk in one of those mesh feeders! I would just take a frozen pouch of milk and cut it into chunks and then stick it in the mesh feeder.

That is so interesting about the sucking causing blood to flow to the gums. That makes a lot of sense and makes me feel better about my daughter’s strikes! I always thought I ate something she didn’t like! We use a pacifier for her to chew on in the intermission, then I latch her back on as she gets groggy.